The Woofy Aftermath

So, after Woofy passed away, we took his body away and went to the Municipal Kennel services to make an appointment for cremation. The Kennel took the body and put it in their freezer, and we had to wait an indefinite number of days for the appointment.

One day, I get a call from the clinic.

"You can come fetch Woofy!"

I, of course go all "The f*ck? What do you mean?"

"Woofy's ashes came back, you can come pick them up."

It was the not-nurse that I super disliked. (There's another story of when he passed away with this nurse, but it's too upsetting and I'm not talking about it).

"Well, who gave the ashes to you then?"

"It was the Angel Pet Services*" (I don't recall what name she said, but it's a one-stop-shop service to cremate and make memorial tokens or jewelry or whatever of your passed pets)

"Are you sure?" I asked

"Yes, you used their services, so they brought Woofy back, now that he's cremated."

I figured maybe she had screw loose in her head or something. "Well then I guess you better make sure the clinic didn't mix up pets as I'm sure I carried Woofy's body to the Kennel myself, and we are still waiting for the cremation appointment."

"Oh! I'll check" and she hangs up.

To make sure I call my sister, as she's the one that actually handled all that.

"Did you see it was really Woofy that you carried away?" I asked her.

"Erm, it was all wrapped up, so I didn't unwrap it to see. But the box they put him in did say Woofy!" my sister replies.

At that moment, I was super worried that the clinic DID mix up dogs. Later that night, I called them again to check. Another nurse answered and she promised the only thing that got mixed up was the client telephone numbers as the other dog had the same name.

Honestly, I really doubt that it just so happens that the clinic had 2 patients with the same name, Woofy, die on the same week. Woofy by far, is NOT a common name amongst the Chinese clientele.

Anyway, my sister said not to worry as she requested that we view the body on the cremation day.

So the appointment was yesterday, and I sneaked off work to go see. It was the Coloane Island Municipal Kennel, usually off limits to the public. We can only go there if we have an appointment or something. And an appointment we did have. The only crematorium for dogs in Macau (we don't have a crematorium for humans in Macau, if you want to get cremated, you get sent to China for that) Indeed there was our Woofy, frozen on the platform of the cremation thing. Even though it wasn't ceremonial or anything, and the common "saying" is the people of the municipal kennel are heartless, I thought the guy was pretty good. He unpacked the dog and left us alone for a good 10-15 minutes to say goodbye and then after we gave the OK, he did what he had to do (push the plate/platform into the burner, turn some gears and whatever) and said the ashes would be ready by noon. And so we were good to go.

However, the saddest part of all that wasn't seeing Woofy go. Woofy has gone and it was just the body we were going to cremate. The saddest thing there are all those dogs that are still alive. The caught dogs are first placed in the Municipal Kennel in Macau side, after 2 weeks, and if no one claims them, the dogs will be moved to this location out in Coloane Island, and soon they will be euthanised. One of my current dogs, Sai-Lup, I saved him from this kennel (long long story for another time, if anyone interested)

Now, true to my Dad's words, Woofy's urn sits on my Dad's bedside table. I still find that ridiculous, but whatever. When I get all my stuff back from the warehouse, I'll use my mini sticker printer and print a photo of Woofy so we can stick it to the urn.